


Everybody Leaves

by shesimperfect_butshetries



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Comfort, Episode Related, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 02:51:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14416086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shesimperfect_butshetries/pseuds/shesimperfect_butshetries
Summary: Rewrite of the end of 6x17. Felicity and Oliver discuss the collapse of Team Arrow.





	Everybody Leaves

 

She finds him by the window, staring out at the city he loves, the city his best friend thinks he’s no longer fit to protect. His hopelessness is obvious in the droop of his shoulders, and her heart aches at the sight of him.

“Hey,” she says, gently breaking him out of his own thoughts.

He turns as she trails her fingers up his arm, ghosting her hands over his back before settling them around his neck.

“I know it’s rough.” She brings her hands up to his jaw, thumbs running over his stubble. “But, you’ll always have me.”

She pauses to make sure he understands and he gives a soft “Yeah,” with a gentle nod of his head.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

A rush of air leaves his lungs as he drops his forehead to hers, hands coming up to her waist. His fingers dig into the exposed skin of her midriff, almost like he is willing the words to be true, like maybe, if he holds on tight enough, she will stay put.

“I just…I need…” he huffs out a frustrated breath, moving to pull away, but she grips his jaw tighter. “What is it baby? What do you need? Tell me.”

He shakes his head, forehead brushing against hers as he replies. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to do Felicity. I’m doing things the only way I know how, but it’s not right. It’s not good enough.”

He hands grip her hips even harder and she drags her nails through his hair, a simple motion that always soothes him. His shoulders relax microscopically and he continues. “I can’t think of any solutions. John says I’m spreading myself too thin, but...I can’t stop trying to help the city, not as Mayor or as the Green Arrow, and I am _never_ going to give up on you and William.”

She smiles at him, going up on her toes to brush her lips gently over his before leaning into him fully, her head on his chest, tucked under his chin as his arms come up to envelope her.

“I can’t figure out where I’ve gone wrong. The Green Arrow is who I am. I don’t know how to let that go.” He pushes away from her, turning back to window, his fingers tugging on his hair in frustration. 

“You don’t,” she says firmly, moving in front of him again to look him in the eye. “You just said it yourself, Oliver. Being the Green Arrow is part of you and it makes you who you are just as much as all the other parts. The Oliver I love is so many wonderful things. Husband, father, brother, mayor, hero…the hero is just as important as all of the others. And for the record, I think you’re doing a kick-ass job at all of them.”

He smiles at that, but its half-hearted at best and it doesn’t reach his eyes. “If that’s true then what is wrong with me Felicity? Why does everyone keep leaving me?” His voice cracks on the last word, and he looks away, no longer willing to meet her eyes.

“Oh, Oliver.” She buries her head back in his chest, her heart breaking at his words. “Nothing is wrong with you.” Pulling back again, she grips his face in her hands. “ _Nothing._ Do you understand me?”

When he nods sadly, her head falls back over his heart and she murmurs under her breath, “I’m the problem.”

Really, Felicity has known this man long enough that she should have expected him to be able to hear her. “What?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

“Fe-li-ci-ty.” He hugs her a bit tighter. “We are a team, and what makes us a good team is that we are honest with each other. Please, tell me.”

She exhales in defeat, realizing he is not going to let this go. “I have always thought everyone was projecting, that they all had their own issues, and were just using you as a convenient place to pile all of the blame for their own problems. But I keep thinking…”

She trails off, trying to figure out how best to voice her fears, her hands balling into fists around the soft fabric of his henley. “Things were going so well before. Or…as well as could be expected considering the way things went down with Chase and John’s nerve damage but…The team was running smoothly, getting along. You were helping Rene try to get Zoe back, you and Dinah and Quentin were work buddies. Then you quit for a while, but even after you came back things were good. John had apologized, you were the Green Arrow again, and you were still being a kick-ass hero, mayor, and dad. The way I see it, only one thing has changed about your life since everything went to hell.”

“Felicity." His voice breaks her out of her babble. "What on earth are you talking about?” He is leaning his head back to see her face, his own contorted into a confused frown.

“Maybe the problem isn’t so much with you, Oliver. Maybe the real reason for all of this is me. The only thing you’ve changed about yourself between the time when things going well to the team completely imploding is getting married to me. I’m the real problem.”

Oliver opens his mouth to protest, but she continues before he has a chance to speak. “Maybe they don’t like you having a wife. Maybe they think I’m a distraction or that you’ll side with me too much, or I’ll side with you too much…Oliver, nothing is wrong with you. It’s me that caused the problems.”

He shakes his head, stepping back even more to tilt her face up, forcing her to look him in the eye. “Honey, that is ridiculous. You know as well as I do that we loved each other, and supported each other, and always had each other’s backs well before you finally let me slide that ring on your finger. Our marriage didn’t change the partnership we had already perfected in the bunker. That connection has been rock solid from the start.”

“What if that’s not true? What if marrying me changed the way everyone looks at you? All of the bad things that have happened took place after we got married. Rene gave you up to the FBI, Dinah lied about Vince, Curtis hacked John’s chip, Roy came back but we barely saw him before he bailed again and took Thea with him and John… _God John_.” She stifles a sob at the end, but she knows he caught it anyway.

“Oh, sweetheart.” It comes out as a sigh, as his thumbs work to rid her cheeks of tears."First of all, even if all of the problems with the team stemmed from our marriage, I would always choose marrying you over having a team. Every. Single. Time. Okay?"

She gives a small nod as he brushes hip lips over her forehead.

“I am so sorry, honey. I’ve been so blinded by my own problems that I didn’t see how all of this was affecting you. The team? John? Thea? They didn’t just leave me. They left _us_. This isn’t a you or me situation. We are partners, we’re a team – a family – and they left _us_. I don’t know why, but I sure as hell know that it is _not_ your fault.”

She sniffles, but she can feel her hysteria ebbing, his calm voice easing her insecurities, bit by bit. “Felicity, I am so sorry about John. I know he has a lot of things to figure out, but I know my actions played a role in his decision to leave, and I am truly sorry that you had to suffer because of that. I know he has always been like a brother to you.”

“He’s your brother too,” she protests, and a sad smile crosses his face.

“He is, but brothers…they fight and argue and it hurts like hell, but it’s what brothers do. That’s not how it works with brothers and their sisters. Brothers are supposed to look out for their little sisters, make sure they are happy. They are supposed to take care of them and comfort them. Older brothers are always supposed to be there for their sisters and John has let you down in that regard. Just because he is upset with me does not give him the right to abandon you.”

His words are fierce, and she knows he’s thinking of his own little sister, that no matter who she married or whose side she took in an argument, he would never abandon Thea. It grounds her and sends more tears spilling out, his steadfast love and unwavering loyalty to his baby sister filling the cracks in her heart because she knows he feels the same about her.

“No matter who comes and goes in our lives, we always have each other, right?” she checks, her eyes searching his, knowing what she will find there: honesty, safety, loyalty, love.

“Right. They can leave, or disagree with our tactics, they can try to send me to jail, or get me impeached, but you and me? Oliver and Felicity? Overwatch and the Green Arrow? We’re a team no matter what, and we’re inseparable. No one can change that.”

She surges upwards, her mouth crashing onto his and he meets her halfway, arms banding around her waist, pulling her tightly to him. When they finally break for air, their foreheads remain pressed together and she whispers, “As long as you’re on my team, that’s all I need.”

He kisses her once more before repeating her earlier words back to her, “You’ll always have me. I’m not going anywhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!


End file.
